Meet David, Our Board Member-at-Large

Hello all! My name is David Heinold. I graduated from Ball State University in December 2012 with a Bachelor’s of Urban Planning and Development, spent the first part of 2013 in Washington, D.C. working with Representative Bob Gibbs (OH – 7) and volunteering for many different causes around the D.C. metropolitan region, and landed a job with the Minnehaha County Planning Department in Sioux Falls, South Dakota shortly thereafter the same year.

For the first year of my professional planning career with the County, I’ve been pretty consumed in planning and zoning matters throughout rural Minnehaha County. My daily job duties allow me to exercise my passion for public service and facilitation skills to build a better quality of life for both visitors and residents in the area. The next two years have certainly been chock-full of full-time workdays, office administration, development application review and analysis, agricultural drainage management, and included writing a new comprehensive plan for Minnehaha County called Envision 2035.

Beyond my professional employment duties, I am involved with planning social bike rides for Falls Area Bicyclists the local bicycle advocacy organization and other local sustainability-focused organizations around the Sioux Falls area. For the past two years, I have been an active member on the Pettigrew Heights Neighborhood Association board of directors and was recently elected President a few months ago. These volunteer experiences allow me to express my creativity, determination, and resourcefulness to make the community a better place to live for all people.

I have limited experience and knowledge as to the mission of Project Food Forest, but I was quick to jump on board with Veronica and team when I found out about what amazing things we could accomplish to help bring free publicly available food to ALL people! I’ve been on many field trips and professional conferences in bigger cities such as Boston, Seattle, and Chicago (I am from La Porte, Indiana, which is an hour and a half east of Chicago!). Most notably, my recent discovery of the Seattle community garden and food forest program drew my inspiration and motivation for wanting to get involved on the Project Food Forest board to make a difference here locally in the Sioux Falls area.

I am excited what the future holds for this organization and am glad I could be a part of helping grow the mission of the organization to make free food available to ALL!!!

-David A. Heinold